“You need to make it look kind of like something (lenders and investors) are familiar with,” Grode said. “We as dealmakers translate that so that … we can bridge the gap between media and finance.”

Original digital content — and how much to spend on it — was a big topic of discussion during the sesh moderated by Variety’s Andrew Wallenstein. Panelists agreed that an appetite exists for serialized content online (like Netflix’s upcoming “House of Cards”), driven in large part by the millions of aggregated eyeballs that companies like Machinima and Maker can draw.

But Stearns pointed out that while companies like Netflix have poured money into developing their own programming, it’s hard to determine how much such programming drives the company’s subscriptions. And not knowing that can pose a problem for potential financiers.

“If you’re talking about production costs in the several millions of dollars, there’s a higher risk that there’s (not going) to be consumer demand,” Grode said.

The business opportunities for blending of traditional and new media was another subject panelists touched on. Koondel pointed to the deal CBS recently struck with Yahoo to rebrand its syndie newsmag “The Insider” as “OMG Insider” as part of a broader news-sharing and distribution partnership. Koondel said CBS went to the market in search of a deal that he likened to a naming-rights licensing pact but the network instead found greater potential in piggybacking on Yahoo’s considerable Web traffic.

Koondel called it an example of “a traditional media company looking to the Web to enhance the existing business.”

DeBevoise pointed to the revival of “Mortal Kombat” as a game and potential film franchise at Warner Bros. based on the buzz generated by the “Mortal Kombat” Web series that ran on Machinima.